Taoyuan Lotus Season implements local revitalization, pioneering a new economy for green leisure industries

Taoyuan Deputy Mayor Yu Chien-Hua-Yu presided over the municipal meeting yesterday (the 11th) morning; after hearing the Agriculture Bureau's special report on "The 21st Anniversary of the Taoyuan Lotus Season: Implementing the Spirit of Local Revitalization," he stated that the Taoyuan Lotus Season has now entered its 21st anniversary. In recent years, the city government has integrated resources across bureaus and departments, strengthened the overall external marketing strategy, successfully driven increases in domestic and international tourist numbers and farm revenues, and promoted local population growth, with outstanding results; in addition, the Guanyin Lotus Garden Leisure Agriculture Area can serve as a learning model for the other 7 leisure agriculture areas, promoting the local recreation industry in line with the development strategy of one leisure area, one flower, one festival, strengthening external marketing and publicity, and pioneering a new economy for Taoyuan's agricultural development.

Deputy Secretary-General Qiu Jun-Ming stated that the Guanyin Lotus Garden Leisure Agriculture Area was established in year 105 (2016) and is the first leisure agriculture area approved for establishment in Taoyuan. It is highly important to the development and transformation of Taoyuan's agriculture, directly influencing the farming patterns of local farmers. The trend of combining agriculture with tourism development has also attracted young people to return home, and there is great room for development in the revitalization and utilization of the leisure industry in the future.

Taoyuan City Agriculture Bureau Director Guo Cheng-Quan said that this year (year 108, 2019) is the inaugural year of local revitalization, and the Taoyuan Lotus Season implements the local revitalization spirit of "industry, place, and people." For example, in "developing industry," it has developed derivative local specialty products such as lotus seed soy milk pudding, lotus root pork balls, and perfumed lotus coffee, as well as future plans to introduce mobile payments, big data, and online new media for brand marketing and promotion; in "relying on local characteristics," it has launched bamboo weaving art, lotus seed peeling and other agricultural experience services, and local landscape tourism strategies such as the Daitian Lotus Garden, Lotus Garden, and Monet Garden; in "driving population growth," it has successfully consolidated consensus among local organizations, encouraged young people to take up farming, and guided farms toward distinctive and sustainable operations, attracting young people to return home from the bottom up, allowing green industries to be revitalized and upgraded.

Director Guo Cheng-Quan also said that Taoyuan promotes leisure agriculture to provide the public with needs such as closeness to the natural environment, differentiated dining services, and experiential facilities and activities. In the future, it will also study and plan to guide farms in leisure agriculture areas to launch "joint tickets" to drive balanced development among farms, making leisure agriculture a star industry in Taoyuan.